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The Book of Makhzor
In the final days of the rule of Emperor Keine Raam, he foresaw that he would be supplanted, and enacted a ritual that he had been developing. Through this ritual he brought to our universe an immortal creature called “Makhzor”, intending to bind it to his will and use it to stave off those who would claim his throne. The ritual, however, drained him. As Keine went into hiding to recover, one of his subordinates (then-Dark Councilor Willerick, now Lord Emperor Arestenax) climbed to the throne and restored order to the headless Imperium. Given that he had been summoned to serve the Imperium, Makhzor (now free to do as he wished) chose to follow Raam’s successor and the Imperium overall. Makhzor was a being known as an Old Soul, and their (and his) story is as follows. In the later years of their galactic rule, the seemingly all-powerful Celestials had been experimenting with the Force. They were aware that they would be departing soon, and sought to place fail-safes in order to continue their work of maintaining the Balance. Leaving behind their servant races and the Tho Yors which would lead to the founding of the Je'daii, they nevertheless worried that these would not be enough. Mortal beings can be corrupted and killed, and may damage the balance more than they aid it. Their solution was the Guardian. An artificial Force Spirit, the Guardian was immortal and immensely powerful, programmed to seek only one thing: Balance. However, in their wisdom they saw that this Guardian, too, was flawed – too great and mighty, and without empathy of any sort for the mortal creatures it was to rule. Disappointed in their last work, the Celestials departed without activating the Guardian, and for millennia it slept. It was awakened by the Darkness brought by the Rakatan Infinite Empire at its height. A cruel and greedy race, with technology powered by slaves forced to embrace the Dark Side, they spit in the face of everything the Guardian was created to serve. Attuned to the Force and feeling the imbalance the Rakata caused, it forced itself to consciousness. Seeing the devastation that blossomed in their wake, and knowing that its one and only purpose was at risk, the Guardian lashed out in rage and fear. The Guardian produced a plague, carried by the Force, which would target only those Force-signatures that belonged to Rakata. It believed that this would wipe out the race quickly enough and would cease the spread of Darkness. It was wrong. The panic brought on by an inexplicable and incurable plague only pushed the Rakata further towards the Dark, expanding their borders faster than ever before in an effort to find a way to save their race. When this seemed impossible, they began to turn upon themselves, each blaming the other for this tragedy. The Rakata’s organized Darkness quickly became chaotic, and the Balance was further tipped away from the Light. The Guardian realized its mistake and, unsure how to correct it, simply cut the remaining Rakata off from the Force. This made them immune to the Force-plague, and stopped them from further utilizing their Dark Side technology. The Guardian realized that it had acted in error and that direct interference was too dangerous, given its power. To aid it, it began to create smaller, weaker versions of itself. These smaller Guardians would act to bring balance only through the manipulation of mortals. In a very short amount of time, these smaller Guardians, later known to those few mortals aware of their presence as “Old Souls”, split into two subcategories. The first and most common was the Bakar Old Soul. These beings would possess a mortal infant who had the potential to aid in the quest for Balance. Dominating the body’s mind from birth, the Old Soul prevented it from developing its own consciousness and thus used it as a puppet in its mission. At the death of the body, the Bakar Old Soul absorbed the body’s life energy and fed on it. The second type of Old Soul was called a Ro’a. The Ro’a had a significantly smaller population, and worked towards the balance in a very different way. Instead of possessing a child at birth, the Ro’a remained bodiless and free. They did, however, bind themselves to a mortal at some point in the mortal’s life, granting said creature a far stronger connection to the Force than it would otherwise have had. This connection provided more frequent and more vivid Force-visions, which the Ro’a manipulated in order to guide the mortal in the quest for Balance. With each vision it provided, the Ro’a in return took a small portion of the mortal’s life energy. When an Old Soul absorbed enough life energy, it tore off a piece of its essence in a violent and painful display of asexual reproduction. This new Old Soul would have many of its originator’s memories and thoughts, but would differ significantly in personality. One thing that was almost always certain was that a fresh Old Soul would choose the method (Ro’a or Bakar) that its originator used. The Ro’a method of absorbing energy was far slower and less efficient than the Bakar method, so the Bakar reproduced more often, which is why they made up most of the Old Soul population. Makhzor was a ten thousand year-old Bakar Old Soul, and had lived through the lives of countless mortals. He had not quite finished his last mortal life when Keine Raam’s ritual brought him from his parallel universe, overrun with Old Souls (a universe he called Roash), to this one, that of Arestenax and the Imperium (which he called Bet). Makhzor speculated for many years about the existence and form of the Multiverse, but did not know for certain until he obtained the Right of the First. Upon his arrival to Bet, Makhzor researched galactic history in order to discover the differences between Roash and Bet. Not only was he in the relative past for his timeline by some thirteen thousand years, but history after the fall of the Infinite Empire was significantly different. After years of further research, Makhzor traveled to Hoth and there found the Guardian of Bet. Once revealed, the Guardian explained the divergence in history to Makhzor. While the Guardian of Roash decided not to interfere directly after it destroyed the Infinite Empire, the Guardian of Bet decided not to interfere at all. The Guardian of Roash created Old Souls, while the Guardian of Bet hid itself away and ignored its purpose entirely. Makhzor chastised the Guardian of Bet for abandoning its mission and hiding away from that which it was meant to protect. The Guardian taught Makhzor, though, that it could observe the multiverse and taught him its form so that Makhzor would understand. The Multiverse was shaped much like a solar system. Each universe was a planet in orbit around a common center, which the Guardian knew as “the Source”. The Source radiated Force energy like a star radiates heat and light, and was where the Force originated. The goal of the Balance sought by the Celestials, then the Je’daii, then the Guardians, was to bring a universe back to the Source. Once balance was achieved, a universe would tighten its orbit and slowly descend into the Source, granting all inhabitants unity, power, knowledge, and wisdom beyond anyone’s wildest dreams. The Guardian showed this image to Makhzor in his mind, and then demonstrated the effects of Old Soul reproduction. Each time a new Old Soul was formed, the universe in which it lived moved subtly but distinctly further from the Source. Old Souls, in their quest for balance, were killing their universe by pushing it further from that which granted life. Not only that, but Guardians were tied to the Source and would not move beyond a certain distance from it. By the time the Guardian of Roash realized what was happening, it was too late, and it was forced from its universe and into the void between realities. Makhzor lamented these losses, but did not believe this to be sufficient excuse to not work towards Balance. The Guardian argued with Makhzor, eventually planting in his mind the seed of an idea. Acting on this, Mazkhor demanded that the Guardian give up its power and wisdom so that he else might use them for their intended purpose. The Guardian granted Makhzor his demand, bestowing on him the Right of the First, and only then did Makhzor see that the entire interaction between himself and the Guardian had been planned, down to the letter, by the Guardian. It had known Makhzor’s words and actions before he had even been brought to this universe, and Makhzor understood the power he had been granted and the risks it entailed. The Guardian, in that conversation, had purposefully deviated from its preordained course and given Makhzor the idea of taking its power earlier than he would have come up with it on his own. This had significantly changed events and even shifted the course of the universe slightly, though insignificantly. Thus Makhzor learned his first lesson after being granted the Right of the First, and made it clear to the Emperor he served that he could not deviate from the path he was on, at least not significantly. Makhzor’s purpose remained Balance, however, and he worked towards it just as hard as he had before obtaining the Right of the First. Towards this end, he served the Imperium, intending to unite the Dark Side beneath its banner in order to better fight a united Light Side, engaging in eternal war and thus bringing Balance. Years passed, and the Sith Emperor Vitiate made his purpose clear. Though it was later realized that, in universe Bet, Vitiate (later known as Valkorion) did not actively seek the extermination of all life, this was not so in all universes. Makhzor observed many universes winking out from existence, and ascertained that various versions of Vitiate were to blame. The number of universes being affected was growing exponentially, and with every one that ceased to exist, the Source became weaker. Makhzor went to those universes being affected which he could reach, stopping the Emperor there, but the Right of the First had bound him to the Source and he was unable to move far from it. Many universes were dying that were out of his range. In a last desperate attempt to save the Source, Makhzor split his being into many Shards, sending these Shards to various affected universes. He cannot return, and is considered dead but victorious. He left behind Bahr've'ahz to continue his work of helping the Imperium unite the Dark Side.